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The enhancements, while not unsuccessful, were not widely popular, and ultimately proved rare among Excelsior class ships, making up less than twenty percent of the entire line.

That figure seems very high.
I assume the secondary hull fairings added labs and cargo capacity, which may not have been that useful, but the more powerful impulse engines should have been more popular given the Excelsior's disadvantage in maneuverability relative to the Constitution class.

Thanks once more for the editing.

As to the issue of the enhancements, my theory is that impulse engines were upgraded around the time of the launch of the Ambassador, because the research for it developed larger, more powerful impulse engines, rendering the bigger add-on engines relatively redundant. You'll note I have reduced the figure to less than ten percent now too.

Nimitz CO wrote:

Praetor, this is a great and well thought out backround for the Excelsior Class you are a really good writer. Do you have any plans to try and publish this professionally?

Publishing wise, I think Trek tech books are relatively dead, otherwise I'd have tried to get Pocket to go for it. Therefore, my current plans are to freely release it as a PDF.

You also have inspired me to draw up a cover for your project as well as a logo for the NX-2000 and NCC-2000, however, for some reason I can't post images here. If you send me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll be more than happy to send then out to you. Sorry I just noticied that I don't have a PM you can get me at starfleetemt@yahoo.com

I do already have some logo work and cover work coming up, but I wouldn't mind taking a look at what you have and perhaps crediting you as a contributor if you like. Let me get through the text first before we start dealing with images, though.

Tallguy wrote:

This is really well done. Include me in the "Sulu was supposed to be captain in TWOK" camp. (I understand that this was changed in the newer editions of the TWOK novel?)

I always wondered if Vonda McIntyre just got extraordinarily lucky when she wrote TWOK and then just capitalized on it in TSFS.

Thanks, Tallguy.

I have been wanting to read the TWOK and TSFS novelizations for a while now, myself. I think you might be onto something.

Let's try this again:

Chapter Seven - Beginnings

The Excelsior departed in mid-February of 2290 for Federation space near the Klingon Neutral Zone on a mission that would prove a surprising test of resolve for all involved. The Klingon Empire had been showing signs of instability in recent years, and Starfleet feared any civil war would draw in the Federation. Therefore, Starfleet began a fleet-wide program "cataloging gaseous planetary anomalies in Beta Quadrant." While a bona fide scientific mission, the program was also a cover, an excuse for an increased presence of Federation starships in that region, including Excelsior and Enterprise. During her three-year "cataloging" mission, Excelsior participated in a number of side missions that remain classified to this day. Her presence in the region proved instrumental in upholding the interests of the Federation, and helped prove the design's worth to the skeptics in Starfleet leadership.

In 2293, Excelsior ended her three-year deployment in Beta Quadrant. The crew finally breathed a collective sigh of relief as they were en route back to port. However, Excelsior was about to gain another entry in the history books. On Stardate 9521.6, Excelsior began to rock as she cruised at impulse. An energy wave was detected at port, and the ship was violently rocked by what was soon determined to be a subspace shock wave, emanating from the Klingon moon of Praxis. Captain Sulu sent a hail offering assistance. Excelsior soon after received a distress call from the moon, followed by a Klingon reply not to enter their space. The destruction of Praxis, the Klingons' key energy production facility, crippled the their economy, and the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon began to make peace overtures to the Federation, a proposal to effectively end seventy years of unremitting hostility which the Klingons could no longer afford. The Enterprise was sent to escort Chancellor Gorkon to a peace summit on Earth, but he was assassinated and Captain Kirk and Doctor Leonard McCoy of Enterprise were arrested for the crime.

Captain Sulu proceeded to take his vessel on a daring (and unauthorized) rescue mission of his former colleagues. The incident was not recorded in the ship's log, but has since been made public record. Excelsior attempted to penetrate Klingon space through the Azure Nebula, but was soon discovered by patrols led by noted Klingon war hero Kang. The Excelsior was attacked and forced to withdraw to Federation space. Damage incurred to the ship during the incident would be blamed on an ion storm officially. Excelsior later joined Enterprise at a new peace conference at Camp Khitomer, along the Klingon border, and helped expose the conspiracy behind the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon, as well as preventing the assassination of the Federation President, at the hands of extremist forces within both the Federation and the Klingon Empire.

Some weeks later, after remaining on extended assignment near the Klingon border in the event of any further incidents, Excelsior returned to Earth to be refit for her next mission. The Enterprise-A, whose decommissioning had become inescapable, partly due to the systems integration issues that had been present from the ship's launch (blamed primarily upon the nature of the ship's 'leftover' construction) and partly due to the retirement of several key members of her senior staff including her Captain, was already in dock. As Excelsior was alive with the measures of refit, Enterprise's final crew had emptied her to the tranquility of retirement.

Shortly before Excelsior's return to Earth, the new U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-B was commissioned in a ceremony in Earth orbit, under the command of Captain John Harriman. Her helmsman was Ensign Demora Sulu, daughter of Excelsior Captain Hikaru Sulu. Enterprise had been designed to test several experimental variants of the Excelsior design, derived from the Excelsior's and Ingram's previous flight data, designed to make her a more successful deep space exploratory ship. The enhancements, while not unsuccessful, were not widely popular, and ultimately proved rare among Excelsior class ships, making up less than ten percent of the entire line. Captain James Kirk, Captain Montgomery Scott, and Commander Pavel Chekov were all present for the commissioning of this, the third Excelsior class starship. Excelsior herself was scheduled to be on hand for the commissioning, but was delayed. On the Enterprise's first cruise, immediately following the ship's commissioning, Captain Kirk was lost while saving the ship and a number of El-Aurian refugees from a subspace ribbon anomaly. Earth, and indeed the entire Federation, observed a day of mourning for its fallen hero.

As the Enterprise returned from her disastrous maiden voyage, it joined the newly-arrived Excelsior in Spacedock. The startling image of the Excelsior, the wounded Enterprise-B, and the decommissioned Enterprise-A sitting together in dock is considered by many to be one of the most powerful in Starfleet history. On that somber note, Excelsior's refit began. Several months later, after the completion of her refit, and as the Enterprise-B completed repairs and final fitting out, Excelsior received orders to escort the Enterprise-A, under operation of a temporary flight crew, to the Fleet Museum, where the ship was to spend the rest of her life as a living memorial. The historical irony of the Excelsior as honor escort to the vessel that was feared to be a threat to her success, where the only real threat was arrogance, is lost on few. In this symbolic act, the Excelsior class finally became the successor to the Constitution class, and held the promise of a lengthy future.

__________________
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." - Q

"Sulu smiled to himself, refusing to be baited by the conversation. Behind his calm facade he glowed with pride. Excelsior was his ship, the ship he had worked so hard and waited so long to command. He knew its lines by heart. He had had considerable say in its design. He was so proud of the ship that even Mr. Scott's criticisms could not get very far under his skin.

...from page 203.

When Captain Styles' call for a tow came through from Excelsior, Uhura intercepted and damped it, feeling considerable satisfaction. Take over Hikaru's ship, will you? she thought. You can just sit there and stew for awhile.

Er...was this proper protocol, to quote the book like this without Vonda McIntyre's express permission?

"Sulu smiled to himself, refusing to be baited by the conversation. Behind his calm facade he glowed with pride. Excelsior was his ship, the ship he had worked so hard and waited so long to command. He knew its lines by heart. He had had considerable say in its design. He was so proud of the ship that even Mr. Scott's criticisms could not get very far under his skin.

...from page 203.

When Captain Styles' call for a tow came through from Excelsior, Uhura intercepted and damped it, feeling considerable satisfaction. Take over Hikaru's ship, will you? she thought. You can just sit there and stew for awhile.

Er...was this proper protocol, to quote the book like this without Vonda McIntyre's express permission?

(sets phasers to stun and awaits the arrival of a pack of lawyers...)

Excerpts should be fine as long as you're not claiming it as your own or making any profit.

Anyone have the STIV novelization, and if Sulu's "I'm counting on Excelsior" line had any written connotation? I can't remember.

Apparently the crew didn't know which ship they were going to be assigned to until they saw the new Enterprise:

Star Trek IV novelization wrote:

Jim remained silent, but he tightened his hand around the envelope of thick, textured paper that he carried. The envelope held written orders, not a computer memory chip, and by that alone Jim knew that the orders were something very special. But he was forbidden to break the holographic epoxy of the Starfleet seal until he had accepted his new command and taken it beyond the solar system.
He turned the envelope over and over, then pulled his attention back to the conversation.
"--I'm counting on Excelsior," Sulu was saying to McCoy.
"Excelsior!" Scott exclaimed. "Why in God's name would you want that bucket of bolts?"
Before Sulu could retort and the two men could embark on one of their interminable arguments about the merits of Excelsior, Jim cut in.
"Scotty, don't be judgemental. A ship is a ship." At the same time he had to wonder how Sulu would handle being subordinate to James Kirk on a ship that should have been Sulu's own.
It appeared that they were indeed heading for Excelsior. The massive ship filled the wide shuttlecraft windows. Scott watched it apprehensively.
"Whatever you say, sir," he said, resigned. Under his breath he added, "Thy will be done."
To Jim's surprise the shuttlecraft sped past Excelsior.
Jim blinked. In the next slip, a constellation [sic]-class starship echoed the lines of his own Enterprise. And this time the shuttlecraft did not duck around it. On the saucer section of the ship, Jim made out the name and the registration number.
U.S.S. Enterprise. NCC 1701-A.
A suited-up space tech put the finishing touches on the "A," turned, saw the shuttlecraft, waved jauntily, and powered away on travel jets.

Well, I feel like I need to at least mention the fact that Sulu was slated to get the Excelsior, if not go into a lot of detail about it.

Hurm...

__________________
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." - Q

Anyone have the STIV novelization, and if Sulu's "I'm counting on Excelsior" line had any written connotation? I can't remember.

I'll have to dig it up, but there is reference in that scene to how Sulu would feel serving under Kirk on Sulu's own ship. (Right before McIntyre calls the Enterprise a Constellation class.)

She also has some scenes with Kirk and Sulu during the trial where Sulu berates Kirk for trying to take all of the blame. Kirk thinks he's protecting the gang, Sulu thinks he's making them look like idiot minions.

Good book. Not as good as TWOK and not even in the same league as TSFS.

I know I said I wondered if McIntyre just got lucky with Sulu commanding Excelsior in TWOK, but I also wonder if the creative team of TUC take Sulu getting the Ex from her books? (Did that make sense?)

I'm sure she got Sulu's command promotion out of the script from TWOK and simply ran with it. In Takei's biography he noted that the scene was shot so poorly with Shatner barely above cardboard in the takes they did, even after George talked to Bill about how he felt Kirk should be really proud that a protege of his is getting Excelsior.

Since we're doing Sulucelsior quotes, what does TWOK the novel say about that scene in the travel pod as the gang were approaching the Big E?

Okay, after some further consideration into the Sulu matter, I made a few revisions to the last paragraph of Chapter Six. I tried to keep it relatively ambiguous, but I might be persuaded to make things more overt.

See what you think:

Although the appointment of most of her senior staff was a rather straightforward matter, especially careful thought was put into the selection of Excelsior's new commanding officer. Excelsior was going to be at the forefront of executing Starfleet policy, so her Captain not only needed to be a skilled leader, but also a skilled diplomat. A number of prominent Starfleet Captains and Commanders shied away from the assignment for fear it would break their careers as it had that of Captain Styles. Starfleet soon found their perfect candidate in the form of Commander Hikaru Sulu. A veteran of Starfleet, Sulu had been Starfleet's preferred candidate to take command of Excelsior prior to his involvement in the Genesis incident and the subsequent (and largely political) appointment of Styles. Sulu was currently serving as helmsman aboard the Enterprise-A, and had long followed the Excelsior and Transwarp Development Projects with enthusiasm. When offered command of Excelsior, Sulu eagerly accepted and was granted a promotion to Captain. He also requested Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand, a friend and former Enterprise colleague, be transferred to Excelsior. She joined the bridge crew as communications officer. The Enterprise returned Sulu to Earth in early 2290, also seeing Excelsior off as she departed for her first mission. Time would tell whether Excelsior would ultimately prove worth the work and faith put in her.

__________________
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." - Q

__________________
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." - Q